John Joseph Papalia (; March 18, 1924 – May 31, 1997), also known as Johnny Pops Papalia or "The Enforcer", was a Canadian crime boss of the Papalia crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Papalia crime family is one of three major crime families in Hamilton, the other two being the Musitano crime family and the Luppino crime family.
Papalia was born in Hamilton, to Italian immigrants who also had a history in organized crime. At a young age, he was involved in petty crimes, but by the 1950s, moved his way up to drug trafficking and formed a powerful alliance with the Buffalo crime family. Papalia also operated various gambling bars and vending machine businesses. In the 1960s, he played a role in the French Connection drug smuggling operation, for which he was extradited to the United States and served five years of a 10-year prison sentence. On May 31, 1997, Papalia was shot to death outside his vending machine business by Kenneth Murdock, a hitman hired by Angelo and Pat Musitano of the Musitano crime family.
Early life and criminal activities Papalia was born on March 18, 1924, in Hamilton. His father, Antonio "Tony" Papalia, who had early Picciotteria values, was a bootlegger who immigrated to Canada from Delianuova, Calabria, Italy, in 1912. He first came through New York City before moving on to Montreal, Quebec, then to New Brunswick to work in the coal mines, before finally settling on Railway Street in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1917. His father became associated with Calabrian compatriot and notorious bootlegger Rocco Perri, and later Guelph mobster Tony Sylvestro, working as a bootlegger who operated speakeasies. Tony Papalia was working as a driver for Perri's bootlegging operations at least by 1922, if not earlier. He was suspected in playing a role in the murder of Perri's wife Bessie Starkman in 1930. Papalia said of his father, in a 1986 interview with The Globe and Mail'''s Peter Moon, "I grew up in the '30s and you'd see a guy who couldn't read or write but who had a car and was putting food on the table. He was a bootlegger and you looked up to him."
Papalia's mother, Maria Rosa Italiano, also came from a Mafia family, the Italiano clan, who also participated in Perri's gang. Maria Rosa initially married Antonio's younger brother Giuseppe Papalia Jr., giving birth to two sons in Italy, however when Giuseppe died, she immigrated to Canada with her two sons in 1913 to live with Antonio, whom she married at some point, although it remains unclear when the wedding actually took place. Papalia's parents were not married at the time of his birth, which was a source of much shame for him. Moon stated, "John was a bastard. He was born out of wedlock. And he was always very self-conscious about it. You have to remember, he grew up in an era when it was a terrible thing to be conceived out of wedlock. Apparently it bothered him all his life and you had to very careful about calling John a 'bastard'." Johnny, the oldest brother to Frank, Rocco and Dominic Papalia, half-brothers Joseph and Angelo Papalia, brother-in-law Tony Pugliese, and associates, all worked in running his clubs and gambling operations.
Papalia attended St. Augustine Catholic School on Mulberry Street, dropping out in grade 8 after he suffered from a case of tuberculosis that put him in a sanitorium for several months. In 1986, Papalia stated that his biggest regret in life was never attending high school, saying of his life, "It's been an interesting one. But maybe I'd liked it to be different." As a teenager, Papalia was a member of a gang that staged burglaries in Hamilton, with the icehouse at the corner of Railway and Mulberry streets serving as their base. Papalia later described himself as a "wild kid" who was known for his womanizing, and who had contracted syphilis by the age of 19. Papalia had "a reputation for extreme violence" from the start of his criminal record as a teenager in the 1930s, and despite being only with a slender build, was widely feared.
Early career In 1940, Papalia's father was arrested and sent to internment at Camp Petawawa as part of the Italian Canadian internment, as potentially dangerous enemy aliens with alleged connections to Benito Mussolini's fascist regime, causing his son to have a grudge against the Canadian government. Papalia later gave his father's internment as the reason as to why he did not serve in the military during World War II. When Antonio Papalia was interned, his profession was listed as "bootlegger." Antonio Papalia was released in 1941 after he convinced the authorities that he was not a Fascist. The authorities imposed conditions upon his release such as he stay out of Hamilton and regularly check in with the police. After his release, the Papalia family aligned with the Buffalo crime family, causing tensions with the still interned Perri who saw this as a betrayal. The Papalia family were still angry with Perri for his refusal to support the Italiano family and made an alliance with Stefano Magaddino against him. Johnny Papalia did not volunteer for overseas service (until November 1944, Canada only sent volunteers overseas to fight in World War II). He later claimed that his reputation for violence dated back to the war years when he was the subject of anti-Italian bullying and insults, leading Papalia to engage in violence for self-defense. In 1943, Papalia moved to Toronto, where he joined a gang that specialized in burglaries. During this period, Papalia started to work for Harvey Chernick, one of Toronto's biggest heroin dealers.
During his time in Toronto, Papalia served with a youth gang consisting of Paul Volpe, Pasquale Giodrano, Roy Pasquale, and Alberto Mignacchio. Many of the members of the gang such as Volpe remained long-time associates of Papalia. One who knew the gang stated, "They were a very tough bunch. They had a lot of balls. John himself talked tough, although he wasn't tough himself. He was smart enough, though, to make sure he was with people who were. John was the type of guy-even back then-that if he sensed fear in you, he tried to prey on it." On January 27, 1944, Papalia was arrested for failing to register for conscription for the defense of Canada as he was legally obliged to do in 1942 when he turned 18. Papalia's criminal record, health problems and his anger at the Canadian government for interning his father ensured that he was not conscripted.
On October 17, 1943, Perri was released from internment as Italy had signed an armistice with the Allies on September 3, 1943. It is believed Antonio and Johnny Papalia, along with Stefano Magaddino of the Buffalo crime family, played a role in Perri's disappearance in 1944 after Perri left members of his Mafia crew "slighted", although the case remains unsolved. On April 23, 1944, Perri vanished after going out for a walk and it is believed Papalia along with his father was involved in "the mysterious affair" of Perri's disappearance. In 1944, Papalia, Giondrano, and Pasquale robbed a Toronto-Dominion bank to provide themselves with venture capital for their criminal enterprises. When visiting Toronto, Papalia was known to joke that the particular branch of the Toronto-Dominion bank that he robbed in 1944 was "our bank."
Papalia was involved in petty crimes from a young age. Papalia was first arrested for burglary in 1945, but was given a short sentence. He was arrested again in 1949 and sentenced to two years in prison at the Guelph Reformatory for possession of narcotics, down from conspiracy to distribute narcotics. At his trial, Papalia claimed that he was not selling heroin as the prosecution claimed, but rather buying it as he maintained he needed heroin to treat the pain caused by the syphilis he contacted. The judge at the trial accepted this defense, and sympathetically advised Papalia to see a doctor after his release from prison, saying there were better ways of treating syphilis-induced pain. The fact that Papalia refused an offer of a plea bargain from the Crown under which he would serve a lesser sentence in exchange for testifying against his employers gave him a reputation in the underworld as someone who could be trusted to observe omertà (the code of silence).
When Papalia was released in 1951, he moved to Montreal for a stint, where he worked with Luigi Greco and New York City Bonanno crime family representative Carmine Galante in heroin trafficking. Vincenzo Cotroni, the boss of the Cotroni family of Montreal, had formed an alliance with Antoine d'Agostiono, a Corsican gangster based in Marseille, to smuggle heroin that was the prototype of the French Connection smuggling network and by 1956 it was estimated that 60 percent of the heroin in North America had arrived via Montreal. Cotroni had made contact with exiled Charles "Lucky" Luciano in 1951, saying he wanted access to the American market. Luciano had assigned Montreal to the Bonnano family. The Bonanno family in turn had sent Galante to Montreal to supervise the heroin smuggling. Galante who had been impressed by Papalia appointed him to serve as his agent for Ontario. Both Galante and Cotroni served as mentors for Papalia, whom modelled himself after them.
"Made Man" By the mid-1950s, Papalia was called back to Ontario by Magaddino and inducted as a made man into the Canadian arm of the Buffalo crime family and to be boss of the Papalia family in Ontario. It is not clear just precisely when Papalia became a made man, but it appears to have occurred sometime in 1955. Galante had forged an alliance with the Cotroni family, placing Quebec in the sphere of influence of the Bonanno family, and Magaddino, who wanted to keep southern Ontario in his sphere of influence, chose Papalia as one of his instruments for doing so. Magaddino informed Papalia that he was not to replace the older leaders in Ontario, but rather to work with them. Papalia was to serve as the enforcer boss who was to accept the advice of the older dons who were to play a role almost analogous to a consigliere. Papalia's territory covered Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls and much of Toronto. Papalia also had influence into northern Ontario with his power extending into North Bay.